lennart’s Comments

True. But IPRED will be revised/amended/updated/replaced. We will see what they come up with. Depending on the scope the mamber states might have a role to play, I cannot tell you yet. Certainly through the Council.

I think the Commission has probably understood by now that ACTA is not very popular. But there is new legislation underway from the Commission called IPRED, which is intended to harmonize the rules on intellectual property. This would give them the opportunity to include criminal enforcement, getting the members states out of the loop on treaties like ACTA.

This was explained during the workshop on ACTA in the European Parliament by the Commission's spokesperson.

The Netherlands might have rejected ACTA and effectively vetoed it for the EU, but there was a caveat. If the Commission would succeed to gain control over criminal enforcement of intellectual property from the member states, the blockade would cease to exist. The Dutch - and the Bulgarians I believe - might have killed ACTA, but it is still moving. A zombie, if you will.

Therefore, we need to vote down ACTA on the European level. Since the Council of Ministers has already agreed to ACTA, and the Commission has signed it, the only player capable of killing the zombie once and forever - in Europe.